Charles N. Allen, Ph.D.

  • Professor Emeritus, Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences
  • Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience, School of Medicine
  • Neuroscience Graduate Program, School of Medicine
  • Behavioral Neuroscience Graduate Program, School of Medicine

Biography

A selective evolutionary advantage seems to be conferred on individuals whose physiological rhythms are synchronized to environmental conditions. Thus, the majority of organisms studied show twenty-four hour rhythms in physiological processes termed circadian rhythms. Disturbances in circadian rhythms are known to contribute to a variety of diseases and to impair mental and physical performance. The circadian system consists of three conceptual components, a timekeeping oscillator, input pathways providing environmental information, and output pathways sending timing information to peripheral clocks and organs. The timekeeping oscillator or clock resides, in mammals, in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) a bilateral structure located in the hypothalamus. This circadian clock is synchronized (entrained) to the environmental light-dark cycle via a direct axonal projection (retinohypothalamic tract, RHT) from a specialized subset of retinal ganglion cells. SCN neurons ouput timing information via projections to other hypothalamic nuclei and by releasing neurohumoral factors.

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • B.S., 1976, Texas Tech University
    • Ph.D., 1981, University of Texas Health Sciences Center

Areas of interest

  • Circadian Rhythms
  • Sleep
  • Synaptic Transmission
  • Suprachiasmatic Nucleus
  • Neural Network Activity

Publications

Publications

  • GABAergic signalling in the suprachiasmatic nucleus is required for coherent circadian rhythmicity

    European Journal of Neuroscience
    1. Nathan Klett
    2. Heinrich S. Gompf
    3. Charles N. Allen
    4. Olga Cravetchi
    5. Lauren M. Hablitz
    6. Ali N. Gunesch
    7. Robert P. Irwin
    8. William D. Todd
    9. Clifford B. Saper
    10. Patrick M. Fuller
  • The amyloid precursor protein intracellular domain induces sleep disruptions and its nuclear localization fluctuates in circadian pacemaker neurons in Drosophila and mice

    Neurobiology of Disease
    1. Dani M. Long
    2. Olga Cravetchi
    3. Eileen S. Chow
    4. Charles Allen
    5. Doris Kretzschmar
  • A melanopsin ganglion cell subtype forms a dorsal retinal mosaic projecting to the supraoptic nucleus

    Nature communications
    1. Michael H. Berry
    2. Michael Moldavan
    3. Tavita Garrett
    4. Marc Meadows
    5. Olga Cravetchi
    6. Elizabeth White
    7. Joseph Leffler
    8. Henrique von Gersdorff
    9. Kevin M. Wright
    10. Charles N. Allen
    11. Benjamin Sivyer
  • Expression of the vesicular GABA transporter within neuromedin S+ neurons sustains behavioral circadian rhythms

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
    1. Ivana L. Bussi
    2. Alexandra F. Neitz
    3. Raymond E.A. Sanchez
    4. Leandro P. Casiraghi
    5. Michael Moldavan
    6. Divya Kunda
    7. Charles N. Allen
    8. Jennifer A. Evans
    9. Horacio O. de la Iglesia
  • Spontaneous allelic variant in deafness–blindness gene Ush1g resulting in an expanded phenotype

    Genes, Brain and Behavior
    1. Vladimir Vartanian
    2. Jocelyn Krey
    3. Paroma Chatterjee
    4. Allison Curtis
    5. Makayla Six
    6. Sean P.M. Rice
    7. Sherri M. Jones
    8. Harini Sampath
    9. Charles N. Allen
    10. Renee C. Ryals
    11. R. Stephen Lloyd
    12. Peter G. Barr-Gillespie
  • Long-Term Imaging Reveals a Circadian Rhythm of Intracellular Chloride in Neurons of the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus

    Journal of biological rhythms
    1. Nathan J. Klett
    2. Olga Cravetchi
    3. Charles N. Allen
  • Diurnal properties of tonic and synaptic GABAAreceptor-mediated currents in suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons

    Journal of neurophysiology
    1. Michael Moldavan
    2. Olga Cravetchi
    3. Charles N. Allen
  • Cannabinoid signaling recruits astrocytes to modulate presynaptic function in the suprachiasmatic nucleus

    eNeuro
    1. Lauren M. Hablitz
    2. Ali N. Gunesch
    3. Olga Cravetchi
    4. Michael Moldavan
    5. Charles N. Allen
  • Distal convoluted tubule Cl-concentration is modulated via K+ channels and transporters

    American Journal of Physiology - Renal Physiology
    1. Xiao Tong Su
    2. Nathan J. Klett
    3. Avika Sharma
    4. Charles N. Allen
    5. Wen Hui Wang
    6. Chao Ling Yang
    7. David H. Ellison
  • Suprachiasmatic VIP neurons are required for normal circadian rhythmicity and comprised of molecularly distinct subpopulations

    Nature communications
    1. William D. Todd
    2. Anne Venner
    3. Christelle Anaclet
    4. Rebecca Y. Broadhurst
    5. Roberto De Luca
    6. Sathyajit S. Bandaru
    7. Lindsay Issokson
    8. Lauren M. Hablitz
    9. Olga Cravetchi
    10. Elda Arrigoni
    11. John N. Campbell
    12. Charles N. Allen
    13. David P. Olson
    14. Patrick M. Fuller
  • Circadian behavioral responses to light and optic chiasm-evoked glutamatergic EPSCs in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of ipRGC conditional vGlut2 knock-out mice

    eNeuro
    1. Michael G. Moldavan
    2. Patricia J. Sollars
    3. Michael R. Lasarev
    4. Charles N. Allen
    5. Gary E. Pickard
  • Rapid Response and Slow Recovery of the H3K4me3 Epigenomic Marker in the Liver after Light-mediated Phase Advances of the Circadian Clock

    Journal of biological rhythms
    1. Dmytro Grygoryev
    2. Michael R. Rountree
    3. Furaha Rwatambuga
    4. Anna Ohlrich
    5. Ayaka Kukino
    6. Matthew P. Butler
    7. Charles N. Allen
    8. Mitchell S. Turker
  • GABA transporters regulate tonic and synaptic GABAA receptor-mediated currents in the suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons

    Journal of neurophysiology
    1. Michael Moldavan
    2. Olga Cravetchi
    3. Charles N. Allen
  • Intracellular Chloride Regulation in AVP+ and VIP+ Neurons of the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus

    Scientific Reports
    1. Nathan J. Klett
    2. Charles N. Allen
  • Membrane currents, gene expression, and circadian clocks

    Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology
    1. Charles N. Allen
    2. Michael N. Nitabach
    3. Christopher S. Colwell
  • Mexneurin is a novel precursor of peptides in the central nervous system of rodents

    FEBS Letters
    1. Maura E. Matus-Ortega
    2. Philippe Leff Gelman
    3. Juan C. Calva-Nieves
    4. Anabel Flores-Zamora
    5. Alberto Salazar-Juárez
    6. Carlos Alejandro Torner-Aguilar
    7. Gerardo Gamba
    8. Paola De Los Heros
    9. Bonnie Peng
    10. John E. Pintar
    11. Heinrich S. Gompf
    12. Charles N. Allen
    13. Benito Antón-Palma
  • Enhanced functional connectivity involving the ventromedial hypothalamus following methamphetamine exposure

    Frontiers in Neuroscience
    1. Damian G. Zuloaga
    2. Ovidiu D. Iancu
    3. Sydney Weber
    4. Desiree Etzel
    5. Tessa Marzulla
    6. Blair Stewart
    7. Charles N. Allen
    8. Jacob Raber
  • Localization and expression of GABA transporters in the suprachiasmatic nucleus

    European Journal of Neuroscience
    1. Michael Moldavan
    2. Olga Cravetchi
    3. Melissa Williams
    4. Robert P. Irwin
    5. Sue A. Aicher
    6. Charles N. Allen
  • Causes and Consequences of Hyperexcitation in Central Clock Neurons

    PLoS computational biology
    1. Casey O. Diekman
    2. Mino D.C. Belle
    3. Robert P. Irwin
    4. Charles N. Allen
    5. Hugh D. Piggins
    6. Daniel B. Forger
  • GABAB receptor-mediated frequency-dependent and circadian changes in synaptic plasticity modulate retinal input to the suprachiasmatic nucleus

    Journal of Physiology
    1. Mykhaylo G. Moldavan
    2. Charles N. Allen
  • Impaired memory and reduced sensitivity to the circadian period lengthening effects of methamphetamine in mice selected for high methamphetamine consumption

    Behavioural Brain Research
    1. Reid H.J. Olsen
    2. Charles N. Allen
    3. Victor A. Derkach
    4. Tamara J. Phillips
    5. John K. Belknap
    6. Jacob Raber
  • Simultaneous electrophysiological recording and calcium imaging of suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons.

    Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE
    1. Robert P. Irwin
    2. Charles N. Allen
  • Effects of neonatal methamphetamine and thioperamide exposure on spatial memory retention and circadian activity later in life

    Behavioural Brain Research
    1. Emily Eastwood
    2. Charles N. Allen
    3. Jacob Raber
  • Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide requires parallel changes in adenylate cyclase and phospholipase C to entrain circadian rhythms to a predictable phase

    Journal of neurophysiology
    1. Sungwon An
    2. Robert P. Irwin
    3. Charles N. Allen
    4. Connie Tsai
    5. Erik D. Herzog
  • Mice with early retinal degeneration show differences in neuropeptide expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus

    Behavioral and Brain Functions
    1. Linda Ruggiero
    2. Charles N. Allen
    3. R. Lane Brown
    4. David W. Robinson
  • Neuropeptide-mediated calcium signaling in the suprachiasmatic nucleus network

    European Journal of Neuroscience
    1. Robert P. Irwin
    2. Charles N. Allen
  • Retinohypothalamic tract synapses in the rat suprachiasmatic nucleus demonstrate short-term synaptic plasticity

    Journal of neurophysiology
    1. Mykhaylo G. Moldavan
    2. Charles N. Allen